


baby be the class clown (i'll be the beauty queen in tears)

by gnarleyquinn



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, a hsau prompt i received, badass!chloe, beca's dad just wants what's best for her, cheerleader!beca, chloe is an angsty teen, chloe's parents suck, the Whole Nine Yards, we love a role reversal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 22:40:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14342475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gnarleyquinn/pseuds/gnarleyquinn
Summary: It’s the same routine every day. She walks in, says hi to some of the lunch ladies who are cleaning tables, (they actually started cleaning her table first when they noticed she was coming in early every day), sits down at her table, and either gets ahead on some homework or goes over her plans for the rest of the day. She’s just putting her book away and beginning to take her lunch out when she sees Chloe Beale storm through the cafeteria doors.She’s a constant every day as well.(or the one where beca and chloe are just two nerds who fall in love)





	baby be the class clown (i'll be the beauty queen in tears)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rejection_isnt_failure](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rejection_isnt_failure/gifts).



> this came from a prompt by @rejection-isnt-failure on tumblr! hopefully my interpretation of the prompt did it justice!! enjoy :')

Beca sighs and flips to the next page in her english book. She can’t say that taking AP was her smartest decision to date, but she also can’t say that she’d be alive and breathing if she’d taken honors. At the end of the day, her dad loves her, but he’s dead serious about school work, and unless she feels like facing the wrath of satan himself, she’s stuck attempting to learn the entire thematic and philosophical plot of _Grendel_ in two weeks.

(Which really, is meaningless, she’ll say when it’s all over.)

She’s sitting in the lunchroom, waiting for the rest of her friends to arrive. She has an independent study--her favorite class of the day--right before lunch, so she always gets there a little bit earlier than everyone else. She likes the time alone, the quiet before hungry kids race into the cafeteria. She loves her friends, but sometimes her school days feel like they’re non-stop. It’s one interaction after another and the small ten minute break she gets from it all during this time is like her personal refuge.

It’s the same routine every day. She walks in, says hi to some of the lunch ladies who are cleaning tables, (they actually started cleaning her table first when they noticed she was coming in early every day), sits down at her table, and either gets ahead on some homework or goes over her plans for the rest of the day. She’s just putting her book away and beginning to take her lunch out when she sees Chloe Beale storm through the cafeteria doors.

She’s a constant every day as well.

Every day, exactly five minutes before the bell—not like anyone’s counting—Chloe breezes through the doors, grabs a few napkins and a fork, briskly walks past Beca and her empty table, and heads right outside into the courtyard. Beca wouldn’t think it was so strange if it wasn’t nearing the end of fall. The summer weather had slowly dissipated, but as of last week it was officially gone. Her group always sits outside when the weather permits, but the majority of the school has seemed to take the cafeteria as their permanent eating spot until spring rolls back around. Beca doesn’t understand how someone can comfortably eat lunch outside this time of year, but she can’t say she’s surprised.

What with her dark clothes, piercings, and tattoos, Chloe Beale doesn’t really conform to the standards of the school.

As Chloe heads to the doors, Beca notices her drop her fork right as she passes her table.

Beca immediately calls out, “Hey, you dropped-” but Chloe blows right on by, not even sparing Beca a glance. When she opens the doors to the outside, a small gust of wind blows her hair, and Beca can see the faint outline apple airpods in Chloe’s ears. She’s gone, and Beca slumps back down a bit.

“Sneaky,” Beca mumbles under her breath. In that moment, the bell rings and the cafeteria begins to fill. Beca drops the fork on the table and sighs, her moment of solace long gone. After a minute or two Jesse, Bumper, Stacie, and Amy come bumbling into the cafeteria together. Every time, Beca can’t help but picture it like a movie scene, her group of friends waltzing through the cafeteria in slow motion as they wave hi to everyone they pass. They all almost crucified her when they found out she didn’t take the study hall period right before lunch that they had all agreed on at the end of sophomore year, but she couldn’t pass up the opportunity when she was offered an independent study for music.

The group comes over and sits in their respective seats, Bumper and Amy on one side, and Stacie and Jesse surrounding Beca. They sit at a larger table, and as more guys from the football team and girls from the cheer squad join in, it becomes the usual crowded mess. Beca can’t really stand it most days, and today is one of those days. She turns to Jesse as he wraps his arm around her waist and gives him a quick smile.

“Hey, babe.” He plants a rough kiss on her cheek, and she almost wants to pull away. She probably would have if it weren’t for the entire team surrounding their table. He reaches over and grabs at the fork, turning to Beca with a goofy grin on his face.

“You forget you can eat sandwiches with your hands?” He points to her bagged lunch, and laughs along with him as he jokes about her lunch. She has the same thing every day, which always consists of a sandwich, and never anything that needs a fork. Still laughing, she grabs the fork from him and places it down on the table.

“Chloe Beale walked by and dropped it so I tried to give it back to her,” Beca explains, “I guess she didn’t hear me when I called out to her.”

“Chloe Beale?” Jesse laughs, “That girl’s a freak.”

Beca frowns a bit at that, and Jesse stifles an, “ _Ow!_ ” when Beca’s hand meets his arm.

“Don’t be rude.” She says. She likes Jesse a lot, but sometimes his big head gets the best of him.

“Just because she rejected you freshman year doesn’t mean she’s a freak, Swanson.” Stacie sing songs from the opposite side of Beca. Bumper and Amy immediately bust out into laughter and Beca can’t help but stifle her own as his head pops up to scowl at Stacie.

“You wish you could get a piece of this, Conrad!”

“Yeah,” Stacie scoffs, “I’ll leave your _pieces_ to Beca.”

“Damn right, you will.” Jesse takes the chance again to give Beca a quick peck, this time on the lips, and as soon as he pulls away he’s drawn into a conversation with Bumper and the rest of his football crew. Beca frowns a bit, turning to face more toward Stacie and Amy, but she’s too out of the loop with their conversation to catch up. Just as she finds a spot she can jump in on the lunch bell rings, and everyone immediately starts racing from the cafeteria. Beca stands slowly, Jesse moving with her, and takes her time, not in the mood to deal with the large crowd of pushy kids today. Jesse looks jumpy beside her, and his head jerks when the rest of his friends call out to him.

Beca knows what he’s going to ask, but he hasn’t walked her to class once this school year, so she doesn’t really care at this point.

(At least that’s what she tells herself.)

“Go ahead,” She says, “I’ll see you later.”

He smiles that big smile that attracted her to him in the first place, and waves bye, promising to see her after school.

Beca sighs and picks up her backpack, not having the energy to deal with the last class of the day. Still, she makes her way to the english room, fighting her way through the crowds of students lingering before the late bell.

She enters the classroom and heads for her desk, cursing herself for choosing a seat not only dead center, but front row. As Beca settles into her chair, something catches her eye by the teacher’s desk.

_Chloe Beale._

They’re speaking too quietly for Beca to make out what they’re saying, but she watches the scene unfold anyway. Beca knows that Chloe skips this class a lot, but their teacher, Mrs. Abernathy, doesn’t look mad. She watches as Mrs. Abernathy writes something down and hands Chloe a green slip. Beca ducks her head just as Chloe turns around, and she keeps her head down as the redhead walks past her, to her own seat in the back row.

She’s relieved when class starts and the teacher announces that it’ll be a free period to catch up on whatever work they want, but being on top of her work already, she just decides to get ahead on the chapter questions. The period goes by faster than she thought it would, and Beca rushes out of the classroom once the bell rings, needing to get to her locker before cheer practice. As she walks up, Jesse is waiting there for her, jersey in hand.

“Hey, Becs,” She meets him for a kiss, this one softer than the ones he gives her when they’re with friends, “You wanna wear this for game day tomorrow?”

He’s holding a white jersey in his hand, gesturing for her to take it.

“Of course,” She says, with a smile. It’s tradition at their school that the boys get a girl to wear their away jersey during the school day for home games, and it’s one of the few things that Beca actually looks forward to during football season.

“Great,” Jesse says, “I gotta run to practice but I’ll call you later, okay Becs?”

“See you later,” Beca smiles a small smile and waves bye as he runs off, the energy of the boy confusing the hell out of her. She puts the jersey into her backpack and closes her locker, excited to get to cheer and finish out the day.

___

_“Chloe, do us a favor and show up to your english class for once in your life. Your teacher says it’s getting to the point where you could fail. Now how would that look?”_

Chloe just about rolls her eyes as she walks to english. The only reason she’s going is so her mom will get off her back. It’s not like it’s her fault that this class happens to be the most boring english class in the entire history of english classes. She has better things she could be doing than reading about some medieval monster who eats people for sport.

Like painting her nails, or listening to music. Or something.

She holds back a sigh when just as she walks into the room, Mrs. Abernathy calls her over.

“Chloe,” She says, “I appreciate you showing up today.”

The teacher has a joking tone in her voice, and Chloe almost blushes at the blatant callout. She’s a cool teacher, but Chloe just really could care less about the curriculum. She tries to find a proper response, but falls short.

“Um, yeah.”

Nice, Chlo. Real nice.

Mrs. Abernathy takes that as a cue to continue speaking, and Chloe can’t believe how nice she’s actually being.

“Listen, you turn in your work, and your essays show that you’re clearly putting in some effort,” Chloe waits for the but, “ _But,_  homework and essays aren’t everything. Especially when you’re going to a public high school. You have start coming to class or it’s going to seriously affect your grade. Are we understood?”

Chloe nods, beginning to feel a bit shifty. She starts playing with one of the rings she’s wearing, not knowing if she’s going to receive any type of punishment. She knows she dresses like she’s always ready for detention, but she doesn’t actually _want_ it.

“Am I like, in trouble or anything?” She asks. She almost kicks herself for how small her voice sounds. _So much for not caring_ , she thinks.  

“Not in trouble, but you do have to do some hour completion. It’ll be in the library after school, and you’ll have to make up some of the in-class assignments that you missed. What days work best for you?”

Chloe wracks her brain for any prominent events that she might’ve forgotten, but nothing comes to mind.

“I’m free everyday.” Chloe doesn’t miss the way the teacher’s eyebrows pop up a little in surprise, but the moment is fleeting and she just wants the conversation to be over already.

“Let’s see,” Mrs. Abernathy begins comparing a green slip of paper to one of the calendars on her desk, “If you _want_ , you could start after school tomorrow. There are a few make up days from the tropical storm on the schedule this week, so if you wanted to go for the whole week, you could complete all of your hours by friday.”

Chloe is actually glad to hear this, not wanting to extend this any longer than she has to.

“That’s perfect,” Chloe rushes out, and she waits as her teacher fills out the slip and hands it to her.

“Just bring that back to me at the end of the week.”

Chloe nods.

“Got it. I will.” She hesitates for a moment, spitting out an unsure, “Thank you,” and heads back to her seat, staring at the ground the entire way. She plops into her desk in the last row and drops her backpack on the ground beneath her. Mrs. Abernathy takes no time to address the class, and Chloe wants to cry tears of joy when she states that the period will be a free period.

She really hates this class. So much.

She pops in her headphones and pulls out some of the work, figuring she could at least make some good use of the time. She’s surprised that the class goes by so quickly, and when the bell rings she all but sprints out of the classroom.

She rushes out of the school, not needing anything from her locker, and makes her way to her car. She opens the driver’s side door and climbs in, taking a deep breath as she revels in the silence of her car. She closes her eyes, not bothering to open them when she hears the passenger side door open and close.

“Rough day?” She hears Aubrey’s voice through the click of a seatbelt.

Chloe opens her eyes and stares straight ahead, her hands on the steering wheel but not moving to turn the car on.

“I dropped my fork today before lunch.” She finally looks over at Aubrey, the blonde looking at her with a face of pity.

“Did you get another one?”

“No,” Chloe says, turning the car on, “No, I didn’t, Aubrey.” She backs the car out of her spot, and starts driving toward her and Aubrey’s neighborhood. After a few moments of silence, Aubrey speaks up again.

“Do you want to go to the treehouse?”

“I think that would be good, yes.”

The rest of the ride goes by in silence, Aubrey occasionally changing the radio station when a song she doesn’t like comes on. After about ten minutes, Chloe pulls onto their street, parking her car in its usual spot between their houses. The one thing that she’ll always be grateful for is having her best friend live right next door.

They walk through the grass to Chloe’s backyard, typing in the passcode to the gate when they reach it. The silence carries on until they climb into the treehouse a little ways past the Beale property line in the woods. The treehouse is a little small, probably not meant for two, basically full grown, teenagers, but the girls can both sit in it comfortably. Pictures line the walls along with sloppily placed christmas lights, and random books and loose papers lay around the carpeted floor. Chloe is still moving around trying to get comfortable as Aubrey watches her, clearly trying to stall the conversation.

“Did you talk to your english teacher?”

Chloe rolls her eyes, remembering the green slip of paper in her pocket and pulls it out, handing it over to Aubrey.

“I have to go after school every day this week for hour completion.”

“That’s not too bad,” Aubrey looks up at Chloe, “Did she say who your peer monitor will be?”

“Peer monitor?” Chloe scrunches her face in confusion. Mrs. Abernathy said nothing about that.

“Yeah,” Aubrey says, “They pair you up with another student who’s like there to help you and make sure you do your work. I did it last year, remember?”

Chloe shakes her head.

“I thought you were just tutoring people.”

Aubrey slides the green slip back over to Chloe and says with a wink, “I mean, most people that need hour completion need tutoring as well.”

“Great,” Chloe deadpans, “Not only do I have to stay after school and do work that I could just as easily do in my bed, but I have to stay after school and let some rando think I can’t pass basic high school english?” Chloe lets her head fall back against the wall, Aubrey wincing a bit at the sound it makes. It really isn’t her day.

“I mean it _is_ AP. That has to count for something, right?” Aubrey asks.

Make that her lifetime.

“It’s whatever,” She sighs, “I’ll just let the entire school think I’m an idiot. On top of everything else they already say about me.”

“Did something happen today?” Chloe can hear a little flare in Aubrey’s voice, and when she looks up she can see Aubrey’s expression has a little bit of anger mixed into it.

“Nothing happened,” Chloe waves her off, “It was stupid anyway.”

“Chloe.” Aubrey hardens her gaze and Chloe fights back with her own until she can’t hold it anymore.

“God. You need to stop doing that.”

“What happened?”

“Fine. Whatever. I dropped my fork before lunch, and when I went inside get another one, I heard some people talking about me. That’s it.” Chloe lets out a hefty breath and looks at Aubrey, but the other girl still has a bit of anger swirling around in her eyes.

“Who was it?”

“It’s over, Aubrey. it doesn’t matter-”

“Yes it does,” Aubrey interrupts, “Who was it?”

Chloe bites her lip for a moment, debating whether or not Aubrey needs to know, but she figures she’ll find out sooner or later.

“It was just some people from the football table-”

“Who?” Aubrey insists. Chloe sighs. At least she knows Aubrey will go far in life.

“Jesse Swanson. I guess the people he was sitting with too, but after I heard what he said I just went back outside, so. I don’t know.”

“What did he say?”

“Can we just drop it?” Chloe gives Aubrey a pointed look, “Please.”

Aubrey huffs, but lets out an agitated, “Fine,” going on to say, “But if he says anything about, or to, you again, I’m paying him a visit.”

Chloe can’t tell whether Aubrey is being serious or not, but she knows from experience that Aubrey isn’t really one to mess around, so she nods, letting Aubrey know that she’s understood. Chloe looks down again, silently playing with the rings on her fingers as they sit in the comfortable silence. Aubrey settles into her spot, and Chloe can no longer detect anger in her voice when she speaks next.

“Now that _that’s_ settled. Why are we really up here?” She asks, “Your mom was home last night, right?”

“Yeah,” Chloe mumbles, clearing her throat before speaking again, “It was just the usual, _‘Your room’s a mess, the trash hasn’t been taken out in days, all of your teachers are emailing me-’,_ bullshit.”

Before Aubrey can reply, Chloe speaks again.

“You know she had the nerve to say that she couldn’t leave me alone for _two minutes_ without me fucking everything up? As if she hadn’t just upped and left on another business trip for an entire month.”

“How long is she staying for?”

“She’s leaving again to meet my dad in New York. They have some case that needs both of their, ‘Immediate attention.’”

That phrase hurt Chloe more than she cared to admit. It would’ve felt better if her mother had just flat out said that her work was more important. That Chloe wasn’t worth her attention.

(Not that she wanted it, at this point.)

“I’m sorry, Chlo. Mom’s making dinner tonight if you want to eat at my place.”

Chloe smiled a bit at that, ever grateful for her best friend and their family. Even if Aubrey’s dad is a _little_ high strung at times.

“I would love that more than anything.”

“Let’s get some of this homework done so we can eat in peace then.” Aubrey nods to Chloe’s looming pile of notebooks, the latter girl dreading doing all of it.

Chloe groans but pulls out her first assignment anyway, grateful that the day was going to end much better than it started.

**Author's Note:**

> if you have any requests/want to talk bechloe, come find me on tumblr @juliawickcr !


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